Performance Benchmarking of Contains, Exists and Any

Question

I have been searching for a performance benchmarking between Contains, Exists and Any methods available in the List

Answer 1

According to documentation:

List.Exists (Object method)

Determines whether the List(T) contains elements that match the conditions defined by the specified predicate.

IEnumerable.Any (Extension method)

Determines whether any element of a sequence satisfies a condition.

List.Contains (Object Method)

Determines whether an element is in the List.

Benchmarking:

CODE:

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ContainsExistsAnyShort();

        ContainsExistsAny();
    }
    
    private static void ContainsExistsAny()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("********* ContainsExistsAny ***********");
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");

        List<int> list = new List<int>(6000000);
        Random random = new Random();
        for (int i = 0; i < 6000000; i++)
        {
            list.Add(random.Next(6000000));
        }
        int[] arr = list.ToArray();

        find(list, arr);
    }

    private static void ContainsExistsAnyShort()
    {
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");
        Console.WriteLine("***** ContainsExistsAnyShortRange *****");
        Console.WriteLine("***************************************");

        List<int> list = new List<int>(2000);
        Random random = new Random();
        for (int i = 0; i < 2000; i++)
        {
            list.Add(random.Next(6000000));
        }
        int[] arr = list.ToArray();

        find(list, arr);
    }

    private static void find(List<int> list, int[] arr)
    {
        Random random = new Random();
        int[] find = new int[10000];
        for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++)
        {
            find[i] = random.Next(6000000);
        }

        Stopwatch watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            list.Contains(find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("List/Contains: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            list.Exists(a => a == find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("List/Exists: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            list.Any(a => a == find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("List/Any: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            arr.Contains(find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("Array/Contains: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

        Console.WriteLine("Arrays do not have Exists");

        watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
        for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
        {
            arr.Any(a => a == find[rpt]);
        }
        watch.Stop();
        Console.WriteLine("Array/Any: {0:N0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
    }

RESULTS

***************************************
***** ContainsExistsAnyShortRange *****
***************************************
List/Contains: 96ms
List/Exists: 146ms
List/Any: 381ms
Array/Contains: 34ms
Arrays do not have Exists
Array/Any: 410ms
***************************************
********* ContainsExistsAny ***********
***************************************
List/Contains: 257,996ms
List/Exists: 379,951ms
List/Any: 884,853ms
Array/Contains: 72,486ms
Arrays do not have Exists
Array/Any: 1,013,303ms

Answer 2

The fastest way is to use a HashSet. The Contains for a HashSet is O(1).

I took you code and added a benchmark for HashSet<int> The performance cost of HashSet<int> set = new HashSet<int>(list); is nearly zero.

void Main()
{
    ContainsExistsAnyShort();

    ContainsExistsAny();
}

private static void ContainsExistsAny()
{
    Console.WriteLine("***************************************");
    Console.WriteLine("********* ContainsExistsAny ***********");
    Console.WriteLine("***************************************");

    List<int> list = new List<int>(6000000);
    Random random = new Random();
    for (int i = 0; i < 6000000; i++)
    {
        list.Add(random.Next(6000000));
    }
    int[] arr = list.ToArray();
    HashSet<int> set = new HashSet<int>(list);

    find(list, arr, set);

}

private static void ContainsExistsAnyShort()
{
    Console.WriteLine("***************************************");
    Console.WriteLine("***** ContainsExistsAnyShortRange *****");
    Console.WriteLine("***************************************");

    List<int> list = new List<int>(2000);
    Random random = new Random();
    for (int i = 0; i < 2000; i++)
    {
        list.Add(random.Next(6000000));
    }
    int[] arr = list.ToArray();
    HashSet<int> set = new HashSet<int>(list);

    find(list, arr, set);

}

private static void find(List<int> list, int[] arr, HashSet<int> set)
{
    Random random = new Random();
    int[] find = new int[10000];
    for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++)
    {
        find[i] = random.Next(6000000);
    }

    Stopwatch watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
    {
        list.Contains(find[rpt]);
    }
    watch.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine("List/Contains: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

    watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
    {
        list.Exists(a => a == find[rpt]);
    }
    watch.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine("List/Exists: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

    watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
    {
        list.Any(a => a == find[rpt]);
    }
    watch.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine("List/Any: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

    watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
    {
        arr.Contains(find[rpt]);
    }
    watch.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine("Array/Contains: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

    Console.WriteLine("Arrays do not have Exists");

    watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
    {
        arr.Any(a => a == find[rpt]);
    }
    watch.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine("Array/Any: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);

    watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
    for (int rpt = 0; rpt < 10000; rpt++)
    {
        set.Contains(find[rpt]);
    }
    watch.Stop();
    Console.WriteLine("HashSet/Contains: {0}ms", watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
}

RESULTS

***************************************
***** ContainsExistsAnyShortRange *****
***************************************
List/Contains: 65ms
List/Exists: 106ms
List/Any: 222ms
Array/Contains: 20ms
Arrays do not have Exists
Array/Any: 281ms
HashSet/Contains: 0ms
***************************************
********* ContainsExistsAny ***********
***************************************
List/Contains: 120522ms
List/Exists: 250445ms
List/Any: 653530ms
Array/Contains: 40801ms
Arrays do not have Exists
Array/Any: 522371ms
HashSet/Contains: 3ms

Answer 3

It is worth mentioning that this comparison is a bit unfair, since the Array class doesn't own the Contains() method. It uses an extension method for IEnumerable<T> via a sequential Enumerator, hence it is not optimized for Array instances. On the other side, HashSet<T> has its own implementation fully optimized for all sizes.

To compare fairly you could use the static method int Array.IndexOf() which is implemented for Array instances, even though it uses a for loop slightly more efficient that an Enumerator.

Using a fair comparison algorithm, the performance for small sets of up to 5 elements of HashSet<T>.Contains() is similar to the Array.IndexOf() but it is much more efficient for larger sets.